The Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, has revealed that his re-election as the state governor was a warfare against the federal government who deployed all resources against him in the election.
Dickson’s account of the election that took place on December 5, 2015 and a supplementary poll in January 2016 was contained in a book entitled, “Bayelsa historic election: How Dickson won – Federal might versus peoples’ power”, written by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson.
The governor was quoted in the book as saying, “What took place in Bayelsa was more than an election. The election that brought me back for the second term was not just an election. It was more like warfare. Getting through it was like surviving a war.
“We were against a full display of the totality of power at the centre, deployed to the fullest. All elements of national power were displayed to take over Bayelsa by force and my opponent’s campaign was appropriately nicknamed ‘Operation take over Bayelsa’. My opponent called it a ‘takeover mission’; a tag that appeared innocent at first but in retrospect, we now understand what it meant from Day One.”
Explaining the purpose of writing the book, Iworiso-Markson said the book was a definitive account of an election where the leadership in government at the centre and their candidate acted out a script that transformed the election into warfare.
The governor’s aide added, ‘’The ‘Operation take over’ slogan of the Federal Government-backed candidate was put to real action but scuttled by the greater will of the people. Before the election, there were reports that the opposition party in Bayelsa State was stockpiling weapons to perpetrate violence during the election, but little was done to tackle this concern.
“Thus, the true account of what happened in the 2016 Bayelsa governorship election and the sordid interplay of some ‘dark forces’ which conspired to make it so painful for us as Nigerians are presented in the book for history and posterity.’’
He pointed out that what happened during the poll showed how people could help themselves to reject political imposition and their votes.